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Web Extra: Inside Reality Dating

Feb 01st 2012

The back story: Alexandra Agro, a 20-year-old junior at Florida Atlantic University, was in New York this summer trying to advance her modeling career when a casting director for Bravo spotted her on the street. He sent Agro’s information to CMT, which invited her to Mobile, Ala., to interview for season two of a show that saw “city girls” and “country girls” vying for the affection of former college quarterback Tribble Reese. Agro lasted four episodes.

Behind the scenes:

• “We were in a beautiful home on the water in Mobile, Ala.; it was owned by someone who owned a lot of Krispy Kremes.”

• “You have a lot of down time. Production on television is a lot of hurry up and wait. You see an hour, but it’s a week of activity. One night, on an elimination, we were there for seven hours—and it’s just one or two minutes on the show.”

• “The cameras are on you all day. They follow you when you’re getting cereal, when you’re doing your hair; it’s definitely different to always have someone in your personal space all the time. ... But at a certain point, you’ll forget the cameras are there—and that’s when they get their best material. You’ll be having a deep conversation with someone and suddenly realize the camera is there.”

• “I don’t have anything bad to say about anyone in my regular life, so I wasn’t worried about saying something controversial.”

• “I had a conversation with Tribble one episode, and he tells me that I seem like I’m ready to take on the world; I’m modeling, I’m traveling. So he goes, ‘Do you want to settle down with me and have a family?’ And they show me laughing. ... I told him, ahh no. ... All my friends and family were ecstatic about the way I left the show. Everyone thought it was humorous. And I was happy too. I left just the way I wanted to.”

• “I felt that Tribble needed to be politically correct. He had to appeal to such a large audience since he was the bachelor. All of America has to love him. So I felt like I wasn’t talking to a real person. How can you truly get to know someone on a dating show like that? ... That’s why, for me, I most enjoyed meeting people. I made so many good friends with the other girls.”